Still



E. W. ISOM AND 1. E. BELL.

' STILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, 1921.

1,41;32,67 [Patented 0%.111922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET E. W. ISOM AND J. E. BELL.

STILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, 1921.

1L ALSQ QGTL P Patented Oct. 17, 1922,

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

E. w, ISOM AND). E. BELL.

- STILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 12. I921.

lALSZ QGTL Pawntefl Oct. 17, 1922.,

- 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented @ct. I7, I922.

. UNITED stares eaner PATENT entree.

EDWARD W. ISOM, OF WINNETKA, ILLINOIS, AND JOHN E. BELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO SINCLAIR REFINING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A

CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Application filed May 12,

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD W. IsoM and JOHN E. BELL, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at VVinnetka,

county of Cook, and State of Illinois, and Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stills, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates more particularly to that class of still an example of which is seen in United States Patent No. 1,285,200 granted to Sinclair Refining Company upon the application of Edward W. Isom, November 19, 1918. This form of still comprises a still drum for containing a large body of oilto be cracked and a heater through which the oil is circulated to bring it to and maintain it at the required temperature. The heater consists in' a battery of vertical tubes to the bottom of which the oil is fed from the drum and from the top of which the oil is returned to the drum, the battery of tubes being located in a suitable furnace. The drum is located at substantially the level of. the top of the heater and as the tubes of the latter are of very considerable length a down-comer tube of corresponding length must be used to convey the\oil to the bottom of the heater tubes. Circulation through the heating system is maintained by a pump interposed in the down-comer tube near the bottom thereof. If the pump be rigidly supported, as in de- 85 vices prior to my invention hereinafter described great difliculty is experienced in maintaining the connection because of the high temperature variation, amounting to 600 or 700 degrees or more, and high pressure to which the still and, more especially,

the down-comer pipe are subjected. In order to take up or allow for the expansion and contraction of the down-comer tube an expansion joint has been employed between the pump and the drum but it has been found difiicult to avoid leakage under the temperatures and pressures employed and, because of the high temperature of the oil, leakage is disastrous. By our invention the necessity of an ex ansion joint in the system is obviated a together. For this purpose the pump is mounted upon a floating platform or construction by which it rises and falls with the con-traction'and expansion of the down-comer pipe. The motor for driving STILL.

1921. Serial No. 469,035.

the pump may be mounted on a foundation of usual character and connected to the pump, which is of rotary type, by a flexible shaft.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application we have shown and in the following specification described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood, however, that the specific disclosure is for the purpose of exemplification only and that the scope of the invention is defined in the following claims in which we have endeavored to distinguish it from the prior art so far as known to us without however relinquishing or abandoning any portion or feature thereof.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly broken away of so much of a still of 'the'construction referred to above as is necessary to an understanding of our invention; Fig. 2 is an elevation of the pump similar to that of Fig. 1 but on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3 is an elevation of the pump viewed from the right of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a similar view with parts broken away and on an enlarged scale.

Each part is identified by the same reference character wherever it occurs in the several views.

Referring to Fig. 1,. the still drum is shown at 6 and the heater at 7. The latter comprises a battery of oil-heating tubes 8 to which oil is supplied from the drum by down-comer pipe 9. rotary pump 10, pump outlet 11 and branch pipes 12, the latter being connected to the lower header 13 of the battery. The upper header 14 of the battery of tubes is connected by return pipe 15 to the drum. The pump is so driven that the circulation of oil is downward through downcomer pipe 9and upward through the pipe to the heater. For the present purpose the pump 10 may be of any suitable or approved design and is shown as of the double rotary piston type commonly known as the Connellsville pump.

In order toso support the pump that it may rise and fall. or-tlat with the contraction and expansion of the downcomer oil pipe 9 the pump casing is mounted at its opposite ends on independently fulcrumed 1 counterweighted levers 18.

under-side with a pair of aligned bearings 19 which seat upon fulcrum bars 20 and the latter are carried in curved seats 21 on chairs 22, the bearings 19 in each case engaging the fulcrum bars between the seats 21 of the respective chairs. In order to accommodate the outlet pipe 11 of the pump and the pipe 12 connected to the heater separate pedestals or supports 23 of concrete or the like are constructed for the respective chairs 22. the supports 23 rising from a-common foundation 24-. The pump casing has a pair of feet 26 cast thereon at each end and to each foot is secured a bracket 27 having a seat 28 which forms a bearing for the pivot bar 29. Each of the pivot bars 29 is supported on a chair 30, there being two such chairs on each of the levers. In order to allow for the tilting of the levers the chairs are mounted respectively in guides 31 which are secured to the inner ends of the levers and extend longitudinally thereof so that the chairs 30 have a slight sliding movement longitudinally of said levers. It will thus be seen that as the pump rises and falls due to the contraction and expansion of the downcomer pipe to which it is attached the levers tilt or swing about their pivots and the chairs 30 not only tilt relative to the pump casing, but have a sliding adjustment relative to the levers to accommodate the tilting movement of the parts. In Fig. 4 the partsare shown in the position which they occupy when the system is cold, in full line, and in the position they occupy when the system is hot, in dotted line, the movement being shown somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness. The levers 18 are loaded at their outer ends as at 32 to counterbalance the weight of the pump and thus take the load from the downcomer pipe 9.

The engine for driving the pump is shown at 33 mounted on a pedestal 4A and connected to the driving shaft 45 of the pump by a. flexible connection 46.

It will now be seen that by the improved construction just described the pump is free to move with the expansion and contraction of the downcomer pipe 9, the upper end of which is fixed by its connection to the drum, and at the same time the use of expansion joints which are very unsatis factory for the reasons heretofore given in constructions of this kind. is avoided.

lVe claim 1. In an oil still or the like, a drum, a heater, pipes for. conducting oil from the drum to the heater and returning it to the former, a pump interposed in one of said pipes, and means for yieldingly supporting the pump so that it may freely move with the expansion and contraction of the piping to which it is connected.

2. In an oil still, a drum, a heater, pipes connecting said heater and drum to aflord a circulation therethrough including a substantially vertical pipe, a pump interposed in said vertical pipe, and means yieldingly supporting said pump.

3. In an oil still, a drum, a heater, pipes connectin said heater and drum to afford a circulation therethrough including a substantially vertical pipe, a pump interposed in said vertical pipe, levers supporting the pump, and means on saidlevers counterbalancing the pump.

4. In an oil still, a drum, a heater, pipes connecting said heater and druln to afford a circulation therethrough including a substantially vertical pipe, a pump interposed in said vertical pipe, a pair of levers, chairs on said levers movable longitudinally thereof. pivotal connections between said chairs and pump for supporting the latter. and meanson the levers for counterbalancing the pump.

In an oil still, a drum. a heater, pipes connecting said heater and drum to afford a circulation therethrough including a substantially vertical pipe, a pump connected to said vertical pipe, means yieldingly supporting said pump to permit expansion and contraction of said pipe. a stationary engine,-

and flexible connections between said engine and pump for operatin the latter.

EDVV D W". ISOM. JOHN E. BELL. 

